Saturday, March 31, 2007

Time for some Chit Chat?

I have no time today to do any real writing so.... I was wondering if anyone has a question they would like to ask me? Any thing at all! And I will be around the computer and in the house most of the day, so I will check in and try to answer any question you may have. So...nows your chance...ask away...

Beemoosie: 1) I have been in Venezuela for 20 years, 2) I am not sure where I am from! My Dad was a pastor and church planter, so we moved often, but all my family is in Tamp now. 3)When I was a litttle girl, I wanted to be a missionary to Africa!

Sire; I thought you had given up on me and my blog! WELL, this is probably the only area where I am PC!! And, I have a question for you... when are you going to get your own blog? I bet it would be a good read!

Ginger; I don think I'll change the name. Our years in the jungle will always be a permanent part of who we are. We will have other ministries, but we were blessed to be in a special place, with a special people, doing something we loved!I am blogging a lot now, trying to get a lot of info down while it is fresh, putting some things into the computer for the book we hope to write.But, I love blogging! I dont think I'll ever quit!

Sire; I hadn't seen you around for awhile! I think I know why you wait. I noticed you had asked for info on Daniel's blog about the possibility of terminating private education, did you ever get any more info? I would really like to know more about that, if you could share.

Pat: The chicken and beef situation has normalized, well, not quite normal, but it is available again. The beans and white sugar are, in the words of my grandmother, scarce as hen's teeth! Relocation is on plan C or D now. Due to the lack of funds, we keep changing things around a bit. As to Clint's aversion to LOL...ROFLOL!!!

Penless: We are leaving for a year of furlough in June. Our Venezuelan Visas expire in October and unfortunately, many of us who spent time in the jungle have not been allowed to renew our visas, sooo... that along with other issues, has led us to decide to relocate to Paraguay. I'll be writing more about what we will be doing there, when I know more about it. I wrote a two part post about awhile ago, "The Big News" explaining this.

No worries. I had just no meaningful comments to make to a couple of posts, thus my perceived absence.

You're right, my question was actually regarding the nature of the "Bolivarian Teachers Association". However, to be honest I did not follow up on this further; I just discarded it as some government sponsored rojito club.

Regarding private education, there are (for now) no plans to abolish it; there were even announcements that it was to get State money. Yet, where there's public money there is dependency and where dependency is, there's pressure from where the money comes. Thus, this may be part of not so innocent a strategy...We will perhaps know more once the proposed constitutional changes are known.

Sarah Joy; When we had no refrigeration it was difficult. Mainly beans, rice, pasta and canned goods. Lots of tuna! The supply flight was only once a month. Once we got the solar panels and the 12 volt fridge, it was easier to have meat which we purchased or traded from the indians. We actually ate really well towards the end, the mission had it's own plane and we could get more frequent flights of fresh veggies. We ate a mixture of regular American stuff and lots of arepas. That is the traditional corn meal bread of Venezuela. We also learned to eat the indians food and often ate with them in the round house. We still try and get the hot sauce they make but it is harder to get now.We ate a lot of fish and a large rodent called Capybera. It tastes great and is almost like a pork.The weirdest thing we ate was monkey, which is not bad , worms and grubs! My youngest loves smoked worms and misses being able to eat them. The grubs are very fatty and fried up taste alot like bacon, I kid you not! Your question made me laugh as I was just contemplating that no one had asked about food yet!

Well, the weirdest thing for me so far is menudo. It happens to be my husband's favorite food in all the world. (His stepmom is from Oxaca-she made it all the time while he was growing up.) But I don't think it's so bad, just hard to make! I have to try it again sometime.

Sarah; I don't know what menudo is!You asked about how we cooked as well. At first, I cooked over a fire. Then we had a gas stove and flew out gas for it. We cooked over wood when ever we traveled to other places. I have had 2 back surgeries so I did not do much traveling after that.we eat a soup here in Venezuela called mondongo...don't ask! Much more gross than worms!!!

Your life in the jungle reminds me of when we used to go camping in the beaches of Morrocoy. Many moons ago... Sleeping in tents, cooking with a gas burner, and the worst: no showers!I mean, it takes a brave person to live in the jungle.--Liz

Menudo is soup with chilies, homony, and tripe. Some folks also put pig hooves and tendon in it, but Ryan only likes it the way his stepmom made it with the tripe cleaned with lemons and all the fat cut off.

I always like to ask how missionary wives learn to prepare food where they are and how much of the food they prepare is local or adapted from how they cooked before. I hope to teach my girls some skills in making food from only basic stuff so they are well equipped if that is what their calling involves.

I can't believe you don't know what menudo is! Agustin's mom makes it often. It is cow's intestines! I tried it ONCE!! I don't think it tasted that bad, but the thought of what it was wouldn't leave my mind.

Let me see, what question can I ask of you?? When you all come stateside for furlough, where do you think you will be attending church, when you aren't on the road visiting your supporting churches?

Pam and Sarah Joy; Sorry girls! They happen to call menudo something else here...Its mondongo!!! And I don't care for it!! But I do eat it. They make a soup here with cow's hooves and the vein. Don't say I care for it much either. Only mondongo does not have hot peppers.

Beemoosie; Thanks for the explanation! I have been trying to figure it out.

Just finished reading all the chatter from yesterday. All I can say is I guess it's not so bad that my kids have gone super healthy and prefer veggies over most meat. I've been wanting to take a missions trip...thinking twice about that now, thanks :)

Oh that IS funny! Really I don't think it's that bad. Ryan's stepmom cleans it till it squeaks. I don't know why it's his favorite thing, but I guess I should try to do it again. Ryan was twelve and eating menudo all his life when he found out what it was. He was grossed out for about two seconds.

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